(he ad pivoted to the NATO encroachment defense of the war) and I said even if there was a valid contract

Two things about this ‘NATO encroachment’ angle people like to bring up:

1. There was never an agreement that NATO cannot accept new members. Even Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, the person whom the agreement would have been made with, calls such a claim a myth.

2. One has to ask why countries want to join NATO. It is something they have to apply for, something they have to work for. Why do they want this security guarantee? Who are they afraid of?

It’s Russia. It’s Russia invading everyone around them that has pushed countries to join NATO. Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have all been occupied by Russia. Is it a wonder why former Soviet states like Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania so badly want protection from Russian invasion?